Work Breakdown Structure

Dr. Ir. Anondho Wijanarko, M.Eng.Departemen Teknik Kimia, Universitas Indonesia

WBS

• A LISTING OF THE ACTIVITIES REQUIRED TO ACHIEVE THE GOALS IDENTIFIED IN THE STATEMENT OF UNDERSTANDING (PROJECT DEFINITION DOCUMENT)

• A METHOD FOR GROUPING ACTIVITIES, SHOWING HOW THE TASKS FALL INTO GROUP AND LATER, WHO IS RESPONSIBLE FOR EACH GROUP

• THE ALLOCATION OF TASKS INTO GROUP ACTIVITIES NEED TAKE NO NOTICE TIME

WBS

• Each section of a WBS represent a product or activity which in turn is then exploded further in to tasks and, if necessary sub-tasks

• WBS should usually have between 3 and 5 levels as shown

LEVEL 1 PROJECT NAME/OBJECTIVE LEVEL 2 ACTIVITIES LEVEL 3 TASKS

LEVEL 4 Sub-tasks

(LEVEL 5 Steps)

WBS

• WBS clearly lends itself to the ‘brainstorming’ or ‘post-it’ since the activity/task/sub-task/step boxes can be imagined to be ‘post-it’notes

• WBS diagram can then be captured numerically and forms the basis for the plan and even the report

WBS: Hint on identifying activities

• There are no define rule!• Don’t except ‘to get it right’ first time• When planning with a team, use a large room with plenty

of wall space and means to affix ‘posters’• Assigning your activities to ‘post-it’ so it can be efficient

to write directly on these as the ideas emerge• Each activity should have name which contains an active

verb an object to ensure the activity represents a concrete entity

• Include the whole project initially• Always capture activities which might not involve much

effort but incorporate waiting time

WBS: Hint on preparing a WBS

• Explode the WBS until a task cannot sub-divided further• Plan at a level which makes the work easily manageable and/or

doable• Estimate how long each task will take, if estimation exceeds two

weeks, explode further• Involve people early to encourage team building and ‘buy-in’

(commitment)• Revise! Check each activity and task is named such that every

team member understands• Start at high level and drill down• Find the activities which originally listed will frequently turn out to

represent different level on the WBS for simplify subsquent steps• Dont worry about the numbering order of identified tasks too much,

the plan which has been ordered the numbering can be revised to match the numerical order

BRAINSTORMING• Call the project team together or possibly a subset consisting of the

lead principles and their seconds to meet for brainstorming session• Distributes the ideas of work which will help achive the desired

objective- to the whole team that should be clearly known at the start of the meeting

• Generate as many ideas as possible and perhaps reduce list a little later

• Encourage contribution from the team and manage contributions as they come in form the different personality types in his team

• Move into the remaining planning proces and arrange them logically having considerd their inter-dependence

MAJOR ADVANTAGE : encourages team commitment (buy-in) at an early stage of the project, foster integration and usually leads to a hugely creative atmosphere in which to consider how an objective might be achieve

ASSIGNMENT WORK

• CREATE WORK BREAKDOWN STRUCTURE (WBS) OF THE PREPARATION OF A CUP OF COFEE IN TATOR CAFE AT ‘PLAZA SENAYAN’